I had to go to the dentist yesterday. My last checkup was great, 0 cavities. But last years checkup wasn't so great. This is about the time I was eating about a pound of candy a day. To say the least, I had 7 cavities filled.
Yesterdays visit was due to the fact that this 'cavity' wasn't fully developed....or to put it plainly, the dentist didn't want to make it 8 cavities, if this little one could make it and possibly go away.
Well it didn't.
So I sit for a short visit, and get the novacaine in the deep back part of my gums. Yeah, it numbed me up, but after 15minutes of letting it set, I was bored. So the dentist came in and drilled a bit.
OWWW.
More novacaine please. So 5 more minutes, and we try it again.
OWWWWWWWW.
MORE NOVACAINE please! Let it settle, and now I have had over 10 different shot sites in my mouth.....I didn't feel the second half, but I could see the needle getting situated....then plundged deep into my mouth.
Something like this is a scary site right over your eyes:
What if he dropped it right on my face?
I think it'd be neat though, to have been going through that ordeal again, but "I wanna be sedated" some on the stereo speakers.
Now I'm just recovering from some bruising where the needle went in so many times. I kinda feel like a fresh fish prisoner that took the wrong shower. But not really. But kinda.

I'm planning a race.

not just any race. a long race. well of course it'd be a long race, since my body has the reserves for such a race. this race will consist of many miles, and many racers. i will no doubt be by myself for some of this race. well i'd have to be by myself in a race against the clock, or an individual time trail. so yeah, fayetteville here i come. jmack better be glad, and don't push me too hard when we get in a break together.....this old body of mine isn't used to the road.
between having a sprint adventure race coming up on march 1 in cameron park with the diety of adventure racing himself. and saint jo the next day. and no lago vista(yay!). i really don't see any pre road races to fayetteville in the horizon. i don't even know the last time i was on my road bike. this could be bad......this could be michael jackson bad.

now to what grinds my gears:
you know what grinds my gears? litterers. however you spell it. people that litter. litterees. what makes someone think they can throw stuff away on someone elses property? but then again, dumpsters have a fine if you put your trash in them.

Today's post will summerize what happened this weekend.
I'd first like to congratulate Tristin Uhl for winning Valley of the Sun. Good job homie.
I'd also like to thank Mom and Magan and Jason for allowing me to complete and compete in the double marathon weekend.

Marathon 1: Terlingua Mountain Bike Race. Tons of guys preregistered. Tons of guys toed the line. One guy hit my bars while lining up, and took down himself and another guy, and a bike. I made it clear of my intention there, and I haven't even begun riding. I was gonna wreck shop.
We start the easy roll out, and I'm sucking dust. I make some suave passes, to get good position, but the race hasn't even begun. We cross the road, and I'm comfortable in 15th postition or so. We are CRUISING down the first section, and dust is everywhere. I run over anything in my path, bumps, rocks, sand....and I think a homeless guys cardboard home...I think. In the singletrack, guys are in a line. I'm comfortable, so I'm content. Then as the first creek bed area comes, guys let huge gaps open and I pass about 5 guys and bridge a gap to the end of the lead group.
Everything is dandy.
The Superfly rig is Flying Superbly over all the whoops, and doops. I am settling in a very doable 4 hour pace, right behind strongman Scott Henry. The pace got a little hot, and he is gapped, I can still see the group, but Scott is still motoring, and instead of passing and riding what I should have done....I waited. A little turned into a lot.
Then out of nowhere, the guy who gets 2nd, pulls past us. Scott doesn't hang on his wheel either. He must be out of form, because he's one of the strongest guys in TX. I pull around and get on the wheel.
Now the pace this guy is pulling is rough. I can hang, but it's definitly not something I would like to do on the first lap. Nonetheless, I make it to the climb, where the lead group is only 30 seconds up. I start the climb and hit my pace. I'm doing fine, actually making a little time...very slowly.
But here is where race strategy goes to crap.
My rear tire is hooking up great. Better than normal. But I notice that on some bigger rocks I am just gliding over....but also hitting the rim.
Half way up, I see a cameraman, and ask him if my wheel is flat. "Boy is it ever!"
I pull up to where the rough stuff starts, and decide to pull out the big air. As I started out with 28 pounds of pressure....I aired it up, to what I found out was a 55 PSI.
So I start back, after losing 30 seconds or so.
About 3 minutes after that, my chain goes inbetween my spokes, and my cassette. I catch it pretty fast, and jump off to pull it out and get the chain back on the correct cassette. Dangit, 20 more seconds elapse.
I climb the rest, now out of sight of the leaders. I get passed by the guy who got 4th, and decide to ride with him after the descent.
So as I'm pulling through the start area, the only part I didn't preride. I end up having to make a U turn to go get my feed. Baahhhh.
Half way done and I'm feeling it, that guy that I was riding with was motoring! So I start the second lap, and can now see a guy 35 seconds or so ahead. So I start chasing. Loren Dodson is only 30 seconds or so behind me now too. But I wasn't gonna wait on anyone. 20 minutes of riding and I close the gap ahead. The pace feels easy. Legs are feeling queezy. My stomach is growling and the wind was howling. The race was starting!
I make the long pull to the climb, into the headwind. With a guy in tow, and sitting 6th and 7th. I see Ray Hall ahead. 5th place. My place. Who knows who was ahead of him.
I start the climb and again hit my pace. A bit slower than previous, but the guy I was with was only putting a minute tops on the climb. And I was saving myself for a nasty descent!!!
I was bouncing this time around, as the rear tire hadn't deflated at all. But Ray was literitly 10 seconds ahead. Nat Ross was coming from below and was about a minute down. I can hold him off...pass Ray...and catch the guy I rode with. PERFECT!
Then as I'm hitting a switchback....a loose one, with a steeper incline, I must've downshifted. But not into a gear. Straight in between the cassette and spokes. I immediately shift to get it to realign, but I just made is worse, as when I pedaled it got deeper in.
Some choice words were spoken at this time.
I jump off, and start working on pulling it out. More words are flying, with an even more temperment to them.
Nat appears around the corner. "good job Nat, keep it up" I say, and he cooly passes me.
OK, so now I just need to take time and stop manhandling this thing, and think my way out of it. My hand is bloody, and I'm not really wanting to break something by forcing it.
This way doesn't work, and that way doesn't work. Finally, it sets. I jump on and hit the climb. Nat is way up the road.
I am climbing faster though. And I'm ready to descend.
I see him ahead, and I'm hitting the 44-11 regular. I'm flying down the caution arrrows. I bridge the gap, and Nat looked a bit suprised. Instead of resting after a long intense effort, I go ahead and make the pass, and keep pushing. Being the smart pro he is, he sits on and as I see this I go pretty hard. Then I see a small climb ahead. POOF. Nat is around me, and goes away again. Nothing much I could do, as my legs start feeling it.
So instead of finishing a doable top 5. I end up 8th. Which is good. But it looks as though racing the Smithville course instead of an adventure race is in my midst. My time was respectable though, with 4:15:25. 10 minutes off Sagers.

Marathon 2: After driving 9 hours after the Terlingua race, we find ourselfs in Austin for the half marathon. Magan was running her first one, and I told her I'd do it too.
We show up with 90 seconds to start. PERFECT timing!
BOOM, gun goes off and we start the 13.1 mile trek. Magan said she wanted about a 10 minute pace, but I kept it around 9:40ish for the most part.
I love doing these because so many supporters are cheering and so many running styles you can look at and often laugh at. Elf was even there running!
At mile 7, I turned to Magan, who has been sick as a dog leading up to this, and said "this is as far as you've ran huh?" Turns out, 5 miles was as far as she's ever ran.
Mile 10 and we were almost there. Haven't seen Jason riding his bike yet.
Mile 11, and here is a nice steep hill ahead of us. Jason is riding and somehow spots us out of 1000's of people. He starts singing and cheering so loud, and other runners were actually getting pumped. Some girls were getting hot and bothered with him around too!
The hill was tough, the only part that Magan wanted to walk, but a couple of motivating words kept her going.
The last mile she tried picking it up. Was trying so hard, and couldn't go any faster. We ended up with a 2:05:25.

Today I rest. But I leave you one thing to ponder. How do you think a woman, working at a sperm bank, can embezle without getting pregnate?

Ah, my back hurts. And it feels like those commercials where the red light flashes. I wish I could remember the name of that medicine that went and made the red light a green light. It kinda looks like this:
Hopefully that will clear up and just be from sleeping wrong. And so my preperation for Terilingua is thrown off again by my throat starting to feel the twing. Quick thinking by popping some Emergen-C in some water, orange juice and a thought of listening to Michael Jackson's "beat it", to get rid of it.
Top 5 this weekend and I'm cutting my hair. I do like the helmet hair I have afterwards though. But with 27 registered riders so far, it looks like my chances of cutting it are slim to none.....hmmm, maybe I should tell the barber that.
"Hello, what kind of haircut do you want today?"
"Lets go with slim to none, and take it easy on the sideburns pal!"

Paper Chaser

So, can anybody tell me how to make this picture my new slogan? I want some of what Nike is getting, but in a beter package. Just do it sounds kind of abrubt, and not very fun. But:"Shhhhh, JUST GO!". Now that can hit on all kinds of levels!

So I might finally be getting paid to ride bikes....I'm actually cooking up a deal to get paid to ride! I normally don't cook too well, so we'll have to spice it up with some salt maybe. That'll be nice, since I'll be sweating a lot more salt! What a perfect world.

Amy Winehouse happened to win a grammy.....don't the drug test those people? If Landis lost his Tour title for a little HGH or whatever, Amy should lose her grammy for a little Cocaine. As well as all the football, soccer, and baseball stars. Fair but equal. Equal and fair.

Speaking of sweating. How many mexican channels do we need? While driving home from Jason's the other night, I had no IPOD, or CD. I was seeking through the channels, and often landed on mariachie music. Which is cool, but not my cup of tea. And yes, I don't even like tea!

But besides the music, one thing has been getting on my nerves a lot recently. And I'm sure I'm not the only guy to do this....I'll probably be the only one to say I do publicly...but it's funny because it's true. Well, when you're forced to use a urinal, but rather a standard toilet, I normally get these great shots in the bowl. I mean, shots that deer hunters dream of. Shots that hockey goalies can't even fathom of stopping. Shots that professional athletes take. Then as I am peaking from my pitstop, that one little squirt pops out and lands on the seat. One little dribble. I clean it up of course. But this not only happens indoors. I've been plaqued with doing the business outside, pulling down my bibshorts for a quick go. It's good, it's good, almost done....dribble, and I have a drop on my shoe.....ahhhh, almost had it!

And I'll leave it at that....Shhhhh, just go.

Why? tell me why!

Ok, heres something I bet you had happen to you.
Why is it, when you're cruising down the road on the bike(or running in Corpus Christi), on a two lane road, with light traffic. That the car passing you, instead of going into the opposite lane to get around you, stays in your lane? Is it laziness? Too tired to turn on the blinker? I guess they think Cannondale's are very replaceable since they see them in Wal-Mart nowadays.
Ok, so now tell me why is it, when you are eating a baked potato, for example, that you eat all of the goodness it has, but on the last bite, you eat the foil. THE LAST BITE! I've had this happend with popcorn, the last bite was the kernal of a fully popped bucket. Or an apple, the last bite was the rotten part of a garden of edan apple.
I'm just glad you don't have that with women. Everything is great until the last....not bite, but instert a more postive, non sexist word....and then it is sour.

Riding was great yesterday, the cranks weren't faster, but then again, I didn't really try to hard. About a 7 on the precieved excertion scale. Normally I'm at 8.5. And I still went under a minute faster than what is a fast time.

How would I stack it up in a Triathlon is the big question. Triathletes are jack's of all trades. Well, I'd lose the swim. Do well on the bike. And try to hold on the run. So triathletes are beter than me. But take the same guy, throw him into an obsticle course style race, and I'd Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris, Dave Boyd, American Gladiator, Ninja Warrior, DMX, Ja Rule, Diesel all in one, flip, flop, fly, frog hop and whatever else I needed, to get through it faster. Now I just Jacked there trade!

Is New York having good riding weather? It doesn't matter, they're still Superbowl champs.

Argyle

http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/plaid

I think this was Jonathan Vaughters idea for getting argyle on the team kits for Slipstream/Chipolte. And getting the brit, David Millar....that was from the line, "you spell honor like a brit!"

Finally good weather will permit me to go out and test a new secret crankset on my TT bike. Results will hopefully give me at least 2 minutes on a 40 km course!

Should've been the Cowboys

Damn. Had I forseen the cowboys getting unlucky, whilest the Giants got lucky, I'd've predicted this outcome. I knew the Patriots were gonna lose the Superbowl. I was sure it was gonna be by the boys, but along come the lucky ass Giants to win 3 should be loses.
Eli Manning is so horrible. He made the worst mistakes in the game, and Brady out threw him for yards, yet he still got the MVP. That was stupid, a definsive player DESERVED that. Like the guy that sacked Brady, what like 3 times, and striped the ball from him.
Anyways, I'm glad the Pat's didn't win, Cheaters never win!

So far this year has been good. I've raced solid, in all the races I've done, and I've yet to be close to any kind of peak. I did the 12 hour race at Warda.
I can't stand a 12 minute race at Warda, so I don't know what I was thinking.
It started off horrible. Jason was supposed to be behind me with Mom. So I paid for the car behind me, two in my car, two in theres.....$24 total. That ranch gets so freaking rich off of nothing. Over 200 racers, at 8 bucks each is like: 1,600 bucks! Minimum.
Then as I'm paying the $85.00 registration fee, Jason comes to me and gets mad becuase I left him. Well, hell, it wasn't him behind me afterall. Some guy got in for free, so I wasted 16 bucks on that. I WASTED that money on a place I really don't care about, a boring loop, that shouldn't be raced anymore. I will certinly be happy when the TMBRA comes along and I'm doing the Ouchita challenge in Arkansas with MOAT!
So after that, I get lined up, with running shoes on. I was gonna half ass try to win the sprint, but some track start gets a head start and I can't close the gap. And my plan worked perfectly afterwards.
The switching back to my cycling shoes, allowed for about half of the racers to be in front of me. So I would be forced to ride a slower pace, and settle in for 12 hours.
A 2X1 on the SS was a bit much for such a slow pace, I ended up swapping bikes after 4 laps, and got it switched to a 32X17. Perfect!
The early laps were slow going. I wasn't going to 'race' until hour 6. Then it was on the gas a lap, then off for the next.
In bike terms, the new Gary Fisher SuPerFly was the fastest feeling. Followed by the SingleSpeed. Then the Mamacita. But who knows, all those 'tests' were done after 12 laps and each got within 2 minutes of the fastest lap(I think technically the SuPerFly got the fastest lap by pulling a 32 min lap, but sitting around a few minutes cost that....and night was setting in)
So after all the time of riding the same loop 16 times I stop. At 10:30. I wait. At 11:15ish, Justin comes in and says he's going out again. Argh. I was so bored of this, I didn't want to go.
I procrastinated enough to go out at 11:25ish, and did the 17th. At 12:01 I finished. YIPPEE.
I think if I was 'racing' this race for real, 20 laps, maybe 21 would be within reach. I felt fine, the legs had plenty of juice....but I'd have to really dig in the mental bank to do another Warda lap. I just do as much as needed to get the "W".
Terilinqua is my next stop. I hope the superfly will be available to ride!!!!

Lets get some work done!

http://www.dumpalink.com/videos/Most_retarded_exercise_machine_ever-70ki.html

WTF! How are you supposed to get any work done? I like how that guy says, "it feels great on my abs!"....if you kinda don't listen to it, he sounds like he says, "it feels great on my ass".

And so it was done.

I haven't ran much latley, but riding is fun, so it balances out. I'm getting ready for the 12 hour race, I just hope my rear brake stops rubbing soon!
I'm gonna hopefully do a few laps on the SS. And my rear NEVEGAL sealed up just fine, right in time! 2.2 inches of beefy goodness, all at the back door. Sounds bad, I know, but you know what they say, 2 minutes in heaven is beter than 1 minute in heaven.
I haven't ridden the power cranks much.
But the ROTOR cranks are very bad ass, for riding on the trainer. I can't wait to try'em out on the open roads.....or even, dare I say, a Time Trial!

Taken from one of the best movies this decade:

Lance Armstrong:" Well, I guess if a person never quit when the going got tough, they wouldn't anything to regret for the rest of their life."

And with that said, Lance regrets, for the rest of his life, not finishing Comfort.

One more for the good guy! (the good guy being me).

Now for a personaly topic. Just like Jerry Seinfield saying "I choose not to run!", I "choose to ride a bike". And if thats a geared MTB, a crossbike, a time trial bike, road bike, Single Speed or a mixture of any of those in any category legal to do so, then I will do it. If I rode a MTB in a Time Trial, nobody would give a rats ass. But ride a cross bike to a MTB marathon and you'll raise some eyebrows, but it's all good. But dare you cross the line and race a single speed in a single speed category, that my friend is too much. Call security. Mr. President, Veto this! Rabble rabble rabble. If I would've known beter, I could've just ridden my road bike in the SS category, and gotten just as much flack.

Lets also say that MOAT got another in the bag....and Jasons team a solid 3rd! Congrats guys.

I quit

"If you hear the sound of a chipmunk, get reeeeaaal still."
"But how will we know the sound of a chipmunk?"
"Oh trust me Joshua, you'll know.......Nft Nft Nft!"
Oh Wink, what have you gotten yourself into?
Today, I challenged a coffee drinker to a challenge. Probably because I want to prove that to stop something isn't hard, you just need to HTFU and do it.
You hear fat people say, "I'm fat, I want to lose weight" But when they get a workout, they want to quit and go home and eat. DUH.
Smokers are similar, "I can't help it, it's an addiction for me", maybe they prefer saying 'a dic on' me.
So to combat the stupidness of the lack of body control of your own body, I went to show that you CAN no matter what.
SO the challenge was for her to stop drinking coffee....in return I would stop something I absolutly LOOOOOVE. Candy. The sweet colors and sugar will be not near my mouth for a while. I'm cutting cold turkey tomorrow morning.
So because I know whats coming, I'm eating my fair share of the sweet goodness that God himself gave to mankind, I've already eaten about 50 starbursts, and 10 nerd packets.

I also want to give a thanks to http://kendausa.com/ . I love small block 8's even more now. That will be the key to beating Armstrong this weekend.

OOOOO weee

Lordy.....swatza tired swatza tired.
I just hit two days in the west texas mountains....well, more like the central Texas hill country. 150 miles, 8h30min, 5850 calories, 192 watt average. I like it, I like it a lot. Weather was superb, a bit chilly, but SUN and good vibes. Jason climbed a heck of a lot beter when he's confident. Magan did the deed too, hitting the descents beter than those in that race in France.... whats the name of it, the France Tour....Tour le France, something like that.
Ah, that brings me to my next topic, the Francey pants Lance seems to want to race mountain bikes this weekend. Well, How convienient! I had just confirmed I'd be there too.....I guess my people weren't on it like Lances, but get the word out, I'm going!
Yeah, and while your promoting my being there, I'll also be doing the 12 hours of Warda, also known as 12 hours of Winding Against Rational Decision Again. Cameron Chambers beter not show up this time.

I'm paper chasing hard this week, so recovery will be easy, but I'll tell you one thing....new carbon shoes, ti pedals, riding style, and a secret weapon will surely have people wondering what drug I'm on. Chigga Chigga Hell Yeah. Now Fogel take off the vest!

Weeeeeeeeee

So the Houston marathon got rolled my Mark and I again. What a blast! 13.1 miles and thousands of people. Although Mark ran with a different name on his nametag "THIRST". Ah, it was so funny when people would cheer for you saying " Go Nathan!!!....GO Thirst???" The hotel we stayed at was Dumb and Dumber worthy. I stayed in a place like that once, not as nice...but you know classy!

So today I give Dave the opportunity to ride Huntsville alone, while I go pick up groceries for the office. In line, I see 6 magazine covers of a fat has been:
Luckily this hefer isn't pregnant yet, or she'd be real fat. I just don't understand why she is getting all this attention to her. She can't sing. She doesn't look good. She dates white trash. And she is the appitamy of what a mom shouldn't do. But here we are putting her fat head on 6 front pages. Blasphamy! This picture looks like she ate a sheep and fell asleep in it's sheepishly soft skin.

A look back at the Excruciation Exam.(pun intended) This was the final bridge to Ric Tinney. Thanks for a great shot Hammid!

And Jason is finally gone, so begins the correct sleep cycle....mixed in with the perfect blend of intervals and a trip to Leaky, and I'll be seeing more pictures like the one above!

I'm We Tall Did.

A simple enough game, Guitar Hero, but amazing difficult. I find the Medium level my challenge point. And when the big riff comes, I find I just hit the first three buttons, and ignore the blue. Three of four is beter than zero of four!
Then while playing Metallica's "One", I find out direct that my failure is quite complete.

It's not even funny at how retarded I feel when playing, you send signals to the hand but they just won't work.

THEN I get on the powercranks:

The monstrosity that is retarded hits your legs as fast as Forest Gump running. Just clipping in is difficult, as you bring your second foot automatically to the top....while the pedal is at the bottom. At least I don't look as retarded as this guy.

So after getting on them and testing them out, I got serious, hit the retard in the head, and focused. In about 2 minutes I could ride them well. My muscles got worked, but I could do it evenly and consitantly. I guess pedaling fast circles isn't my cup of tea, because when I do the retard appears.

So note this, if you ride with me while I ride powercranks, get ready for a faster ride!

Happy New Year!

So much went on, and not one computer to blog it!

I'll recap what the big holiday beheld for me:

I started off with a week of dogsitting in Houston. Three huge beasts that tested the very fortitude that I own. Omletes were eaten whole, and if you messed up in a video game, you ate meat until you puke!

Christmas was good, I got my very own Dumb and Dumber tuxedo. I put out the vibe to say the least.

Then a trip to a Ranch house with Magan, and a new experience too. I waited. Yeah, and it was fun! Well, most people call it hunting, but I'll be correct in what happened. I sat in a cold ass deer stand, and waited. It looked as if I was a chain smoker, as the air from my warm lungs made clouds from my mouth. And as the deer ate the free food from the feeder, I dialed in the gun and shot it in the heart. So awesome. Then as I ate dinner at a restaraunt on the way home, I thought....what if someone is about to shoot me right now, while I'm eating. That would surely suck.

Something about getting the cross bike out with Jason seemed so right. He had my old scalpel, dialed in for the Torture Test. And 4 miles in the State Park, Jason yells that his bike is breaking. I figure the seat is lose, but the fork is 4 inches off. Then a sudden thud,and Jason is on the ground with a front wheel and bike seperated.

Nothing big happened on New Years, except I already broke my resolution. It took a good three hours though. I was going to try to go all year without farting.

The rest of the time was spent with Mark, beating "Hunter:The Reckoning" video game, yelling "DIIIIIIIEEEEE" to the zombies and those even rats. Jason concluded the festivities by joining Mark and I last night to fulfill our derlicting destiny!

Bikes make life easy

So while picking up 10 pounds of sugary goodness that I call Candy at Wal-Mart, I found out why I really ride bikes. I had the cross bike on the roof rack. I come out after the purchase and see ONE bike towering above the other cars. Easy.
Pedal a circle. Do that over and over. Easy.
Run errands on the bike, save time by doing so instead of using a car. Easy.
I'm getting lazy in the thinking department because of things like this.

What I laugh at is how easy some stuff is to do, but people don't do them anyway. I don't get mad at having to do the said task, but the fact that the person delegating the task to you to do because it is so easy is what erks me.
Instead of taking the trash out, a task that takes less than 1 minute. WHY would you get a pen, pad, and write down a note for ME to take out the trash. Something that would take about a minute to do??? Parents hold the key though, to instant slavery. Go Slavery!

Feed the Warrior!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=zHtFixj0cWk

It just happens to be another Lance vid. I liked the part where he said "I just wanna get into some light cardio"....the look on Lance's face was priceless.

Now here is my question... Why is it, everything happens to you at one time? For instance, you NEVER get phone calls. But you go out on a ride, and BOOM, like 4 people call and want to talk or tell you something. I only ride 3 hours a week people, call me when I'm NOT riding!
Then, besides races, I only do something like ONCE a year that I make plans for. Then BOOM, get invited to go training with some guys in the Leaky area. Come on, you kidding!
So today, I have a little ride planned to do with Jason and Magan. Not much, but something to have fun with and call training. Then BOOM, get called up to teach Karate. Maybe I should just turn pro so I have to tell people I have to work. OR I could just sell some things, like some baseball cards.....a sack of marbles.....ugh'Petey.

HTFU

Through the years I've heard some very motivating things while racing. Some from friends, others from people I'll never know, and others.
Here is a list of(not limited to me) BEST MOTIVATORS.---Go ahead and yell one the next time you see me suffering.

~Dig in your suitcase of courage!
~Come on NATE!!!!(Mom does that one well)
~Venga, Venga, Venga
~(the drums at Virginia, or wherever that damn race is)
~You're in second place, you have to try harder.
~A chant of something good(my name, my race number, etc)
~Come on - your warm up ride's over - pick up the pace man - you got it - you got it - you got it - GO - GO - GO - GO!!!
~(it'd be cool if Jason could muster this one): pointed first at me, and then up the hill, and commanded to me, "SOLDIER, TAKE THAT HILL!"
~Yeah, Brian, Will, Scott....WINK!!!! YEAH WINK, and on a SINGLE SPEED!!!!!

I guess the only thing beter than a rose on the piano, is tulips on an organ ;)

Comment and say what you like, and/or what you'd yell to me.

Those were the good times

I look back on my life as of now, and see that sometimes I spent too much time riding. Sometimes I spent too much time with friends. Sometimes I spent too much time eating....more like most times. And as this year wraps up, I've been fortunate enough to have ensight to what has worked.

That picture was from 24 hour AR Nat's. Yeah we didn't win, but I was there, had a blast and learned a crap load more about more important stuff, like my brother, and how much my body can take.
I owe it to running.
Since I started running, I've not only not had to ride as much, but I've had more opportunities to race. Now I race Road, MTB, Duathlons, Triathlons, and Adventure races. The fittness gained from each sport seems to transfer to my other sports. So running helps me ride faster. And I only get to ride 2 times a week....thats it. Instead of 'training' those 2 times, I am out enjoying the bike, wanting to ride, going harder for periods of time, and getting the training in whilest not even knowing it.
Could I be faster on the bike...no doubt. I think I could probably turn pro.
Do I want to be faster....definitly.
But I'll tell you one thing, I've never had more balance of life, love, and family. Run on!

Super-Bad

So I finally got around to seeing SuperBad. And although it was French oriented in the language department, I found it rather entertaining! The cop's are probably some of the funniest characters, Seth Rogan and Bill Hader do a fine job of acting as the law. Below and behind the call of duty.
I'd like to have a go with a cop, no guns though, to see what they have under the hood. Could they really catch me if I was running from them?
I can see it going down like this:
I take something from someone, then the cops get all angry and chase me. So I run a bit through some neighborhoods, keeping them in sight, not dropping the hammer yet. Then wham, I hope on the bike, and start riding through the woods, hoping downed trees and cutting through streams. I'd come out of the woods and eat some skittles and let the heart rate slow, to find the cops dragging ass. So an easy jog back to wear I took the stuff, and give the baby his candy back. Then disappear from the scene with a ninja smokescreen to be never seen again.
-Poof!

I saw today that Texas' own Andrew Yates wrote in to VeloNews. He wrote about his story of booting a tire with a dollar bill. Pretty cool that he made it, but is it worth putting in another dollar for a tire that is trashed?
The weather isn't very favorable today, I guess around 70 degrees, and a little moist outside. I think I'm gonna watch this and get pumped up! http://youtube.com/watch?v=HjcZNR6MiRE

If Lance can do it with half of what I got, then there is not one reason to get out there and Just Do It. I'll be on the cross rig though, getting ready for the long dirt roads on the Torture Test. And although it might be cold going 20mph on the road, I'll cheat and go 15mph on some dirt road....maybe 12mph if it's muddy. Twice as slow, with the same workload. Thats winkology for you!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pY8jaGs7xJ0

It's a catchy song, with funny lyrics, so I had to share it. Thats how you rhyme Lewd, food, nude, and dude together!

So, right now I'm wearing a Shirt, shorts, and sandals....and it's the middle of December. I am not complaining one bit, I'm actually loving saving the extra 10 minutes of a daily grind to find and put on winter clothes. I know some people like to think that Alpine Shop and Dynamic Earth will be a good subsitute team, but I look at it like this: Team Two Tired started off on the bottom rung, racing two person events, primarily because there was no other teammates equal enough to race with them. In the events that followed the next year, Two Tired was upgraded to a fully functional team, as backups or a subsitute second team. So even though Two Tired was together, and opperational, given the new team parameters of actually doing a race as big as Primal Quest, it wasn't deemed ok to keep the name. Especially since the TWO was now Four or three, and the tired part was more 1/4 of it.

So with all the doing of what I do, I want to do something good, and wish the fellow Texans heading out for Cross Nat's to Go Fast! Good luck guys

MOAT ain't no slow poke

My first race with the current National Adventure Race Champions, team MOAT, was everything I hoped it could be. Besides getting off track 10 minutes here or there, the race was smooth and steady. We seemed to take the normal approach to the race, as Shaun was on time at being late. Carlos was flying on the run. Leslie was complaining all the time, more of a ritual than actually hurting. Even Dr. Dave was out in support, riding a bling bling single speed.

The bike and run went very good, a steady base tempo was all that we needed. The canoe was cool in a 4 person boat, but the hurt left chest muscle made it hard to paddle correctly on the left side. And then my weakest event was even pretty good. The 400 foot zipline of doom..... it started just below the stratusphere where the platform stood, and the view was incredible, I could see my house from where I was. And you gotta keep in mind that we were over 60 miles from the house, that is how high up we were. I got attached to the zipline, and the guy who was helping me was telling me, I got you blah blah blah, yadda yadda yadda.....anyhow, I tell him to get out of the way, my nerve was up and I needed to jump now. And so I did. It surely wasn't as bad as last years, crying and shaking at the top.

Afterwards, we had fun talking about the race, poking fun at what we did, and eating some of mom's chicken tortilla soup(which was the hit of the day!), and Leslie downed about half of the cookie tin again.

Horrrray

So I recieved the powercranks, but I need to get them to a shop to be instaled. While I'm at it I'll try to fix a pedal I somehow trashed.
I like the message portrayed in SNL's Digital Short with Andy Samberg: http://www.dmwmedia.com/news/2007/10/15/andy-sambergs-people-getting-punched-in-the-face-just-before-eating

PUNCHED!

I wonder if the people that Bruce Lee fights are stupid, or if Bruce is that good. It makes you wonder when a whole school can't beat one guy. Then you wonder why, if 5 other guys couldn't get him, do you have a beter chance of doing so? I guess it's like a punter in the NFL...the whole team missed, but he'll try anyways to get the runback.

I liked how new his stuff is and will be. I've yet to see any other movie attack someones feet with nunchuckas....Jackie Chan, can you do that?

I'd only walk into another dojo like Bruce did, if it were a bunch of kids....or Woody's. HI YA!



Bring it on!!!

Welcome to Texas

I've yet to recieve my powercranks. The anticipation is tingling my legs.

TEXAS DARE PRE-RACE NOTES:
MEET MEMBERS OF TEAM MOAT. THE 2007 USARA ADVENTURE RACING'S NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM FRIDAY DECEMBER 7TH, FROM 5PM TIL 7PM, TEAM MOAT MEMBERS WILL BE ON HAND TO TALK ABOUT WHAT IT TAKES TO BE A CHAMPION AND ALSO ANSWER QUESTIONS THAT WILL HELP GET BEGINNERS THROUGH THEIR FIRST RACE. MOAT HAS WON THE TEXAS DARE FOR THE PAST TWO YEARS AND WILL HAVE SOME TIPS FOR RACING THIS YEARS TEXAS DARE.

That is the hype I'll have to live up to this weekend. I won't be there to meet, I'm sure people would love to meet a guy that didn't win the national championship, and has only races a handful of times. Oh and yes, I'm very skeerd of heights, so the 40 foot zipline, which had me pale white and crying last year, will be my biggest obsticle.....oy vey.

I got kicked out of church last night, and it wasn't for throwing the frisbee in it....

It's the most wonderful time of the year

Yaaaaa! Chirstmas time is hear! I made a promise to Magan to not be a scruge this year, so this is my attempt to not ruin Christmas. I'm getting the shopping out of the way, only one more person to finish up and I'm done. It's weird how you spend so much time with your friends, but when it comes to getting them a gift, you space out. I did manage to ride in our wagon for the local Christmas parade....throwing candy to all the little kids and making there day. But some kids just don't need candy(see above)

On a side note, I'm getting ready for the next race season, and the first long race is the Torture Test, Excruciation Exam, Irrate Investigation, Suffering Quiz, Persecution Essay, or the Affliction Against Agony And Anguishing Ache Assesment Approval.....whatever they call it. So I took 3 mile at the Hunstillve State Park on the Cross bike to feel it out. I found a sweet little section going backwards, that was super fun. Unfortunatly I hit a turn with a wet root at mountain bike speed, and found myself on the ground, direct!

Ah Snap

Remember this post, next year I'll be flying! (barring any injuries or slackoffeniss)

My run seems so easy right now, and although I'm not riding much, when I do ride it seems with greater ease. I'll try a group ride tomorrow just for good measure.
But speed has a price to pay, I've got two black eyes from fighting on Monday. I need to work on reflexes, hmm?

nathanwink.com=10.5 courics

"And so he said upon to thee, go....GO FAST. And I did. "

I've never really had a ghost....er, any God figure appear to me. But I have had a dream where someone stood next to my bed.

It's freaky, no doubt. I don't know what I'd do, but before my mind could wake up, I'd probably hit the guy, as I do in my dreams. So sorry God, in advance.

PowerCranks

Yes, the return of the training bug has hit me, and I intend to keep folks informed. This is were, you, the reader come in.
I just got a set of powercranks ordered, I found a cheap price from a triathlete and couldn't pass up. Whats digging in the savings for a supreme year next year?
I'll keep you informed if they work, and I'll also keep you informed of anything else this boy is up to.....maybe doing an adventure race soon!

Le Tour

It seems to me that I haven't written on this thing in awhile, and if you read this you must really be looking for some sort of entertainment.
Well, luckily for you the tour is going on, and the frenchman Christophe Moreau got OWNED today. The kind of lashing that Bobby Lashley himself would lay down.
I'll tell you who is going to kill the TT...Cancellera...who will suck:Rasmussen. I estimate 5 minutes difference.

So, what else has been going on, besides me training nil, I've done races in fact that have had a rather good outcome, leaving me to suspect why train at all?

So I finally remembered the password, and I might blog a bit here and there, so hope this gave you 2 minutes of time of not being bored....I will probably post more funny stuff later though.

Duathloning

I was worried about the knots in my calfs, normally a crippling pain. I found that even though slow, and dangerous behind the wheel, that my bike can still serve a purpose. I did some average running on an average course with some average pain. Hit the bike section and made some time then put in some more for good measure. The knots where hitting me in the bike, and I thought the 2nd run would hurt, but luckily I thought about running a heif marathon later, so it made it easier. I ended up in 1st overall. Pretty cool, I've never won one of these before.
Now all I have to do is get ready for Jason's 4th Degree test/ceremony, and the Texas Dare...in the Same DAY!
Funny story time. So while in my car,I have lots of appiphany's, or whatever, so I write them down in a book, I call it my 'to do' list. One is to Sell Bikes on ebay. Well, when writing when driving I guess the handwriting got sloppy....so bikes, kinda looked like bibles. So when a friend glanced at it he saw Sell Bibles on ebay. And inquired about my doing so. Jokingly I said YES! And then he wanted to know 'where' I got the bibles. And I answered, with pure genious, "From my church....they have them at the end of every pugh!"
So imagine this new way to make money...selling stolen bibles...possibley to the church that needs them the most b/c they keep running low on them.

Life

Life is super busy, but at least you can get a great deal on a great bike: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=004&sspagename=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT&viewitem=&item=140059142423&rd=1&rd=1

I'll give anyone who mentions this ad a 5 dollar discount.
Basically, I hope you don't laugh at my non-ebay self too much. or should that be anti-ebay.

it's munday

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Tuesday

Dumb people, with funny...ah, just watch! http://ebaumsworld.com/2006/11/dumb-crook-full.html
It's official, I signed up for the 1/2 marathon, Jan. 14! Now I just hope I don't laugh to much with my running buddy to derilict and not finish!

JAILBREAK!

Mindset, set to win. I went into the race today thinking that NOBODY would beat us, not even our heroes in the event which we looked up to them in. Adventure racing is a pretty greuling sport, and few do it better than Doctor Dave and Shaun. I knew it would be a tough day, but it was better than going to basket weaving class while wearing my pink and purple Tu Tu. And Toninator thought I was gonna talk about his flamingo socks.
A hard faught 2nd place, and a few scratches, on top of scratches, that were on top of more scratches.
I think I'm doing a half marathon sometime in January....but I don't know, lets just pray that oneday they'll clone one of these hotdogs.
And the other big news, is I finally got a doggy, we think it's a Boston Terrior, but maybe he's just a Terrior from Boston.

WHAT?

Not much time to post, but lots to post about.
Sager got naild, and all I can say to the haters...well, just rap to that T.I. song"what you know"...what you know about that? I know all about that. Like forest gump say's "shit happens"
I've been getting ready for my off season, and an adventure race seems like a fun thing, so I've been paddling, running, and NOT riding! Ah, it feels good to not have to dress up for 20 mph winds.
I treated myself to a massage, McDonalds and some lay'd back fun times with Jason. And I have to say each one of these seems to have mixed feelings.
The McDonalds is SO tasty, but I notice that I put on the poundage.
The massage FEELS so good, but I hate the fact that they push and prod on you and, well, lets face it, you build up pressure....and it's not like you can release it while she is near your rear.
Then hanging with Jason, it's always fun, like going to a cage fight...er, really it's the Lonestar Beatdown! With tons of people there you can release your build up and nobody knows, it's great! But the bad part is I can now slam dunk a basketball, from doing calf raises to see the fight.
I'm hitting the renassance festivel tomorrow, with the fellas, and lets hope I can make it home after Pancho's!

ROCKY 6!!!!

I have footage of ROCKY 6!
http://ebaumsworld.com/2006/11/boxer-falls.html
Maybe not.

hometown

Huntsville, home of the worlds best mountain bike trails! They are so much fun, just place your chain on the big ring and zip zop zoobity bop you'll be riding through the woods!
The race was pretty rad, a couple of sections that were different, but the same philosophy....try to get ahead of everybody else.
The normal suspects were there, Fawley and Heming....the main front runners lately.
Marcus Torres did what he always seems to do in the east Texas races, ate it on a bridge section...scaring everyone around him. I got to the front two guys, but somehow doing the testing of 40 min tests, then hitting that 40 min. mark during the race, I kinda lost it. So I soloed in for 3rd place.
I was most happy with that though, the last race of the year, and mark my words, next year will be a much better year for Winkelmania!

Halloween...what a wonderful time of the year. I spent my time in Austin. I actually hung out with some folks too! Ben was cool enough to let me stop by his pad, and his gal tryed on my running shoes....the 6" lifts. She walked around as tall as Ben and I, and was like a newborn girl that was brought into the world, everything was so 'small'. I guess when you go from 5'1" to 5'9" in a few seconds, things do look small....but the fridge???















6th Street on Halloween. It was a time. I saw this guy, and it made me laugh, because if you can't laugh at this, what will you laugh at?














Tyron Biggims....as Dave Chappel would see him.














White from GloboGym....loved it!














Dave Boyd...watch out, this is MY new rig














Apparantly I'm lucky this guy was on probation, or I'd have my ass kicked.

Soul to Sueeze

This past week has been traveling upon traveling. And this week doesn't look to be much better. After the Woodlands I drive direct to Austin, for a couple of days, then a quick jaunt home and luckily I do the Huntsville race, the hometown race. I'm looking forward to seeing all the guys one last time before they beef up and get fast for spring.
In Ruston, louisiana, there is this awesome course, and I missed it this year...grrrrr. I headed over to LA to visit my bro and watch him in a little karate tourny....then maybe sneak over to the trail and do some riding.


Jason got screwed...multiple times, but hey getting DQ'd is way beter than flat out losing.














Then there was this Jimbo. This guy was the coolest cat around, we called him the blind guy, but was suprised of his karate abilities. Soon after I took this picture, he was looking at me.....I guess he can sense the flash!















Leaving is hard to do, especially when you see your family doing what they have to do for training. Jason only gets to ride to and fro work....what a champ.










The drive home was a daunting task. Not only was the lookout for cops super high, but this pound and a half saMwich was just asking for me to eat it.










Free time in LA...Guitar Hero.


















After returning home, I decided to go and ride Hville...since this IS my home course and figuring I haven't ridden it for a couple of months now. It's fast...as always...and not just because I was riding chill, it's gonna be a leg breaker of a race to say the least. Pulling a sub hour lap riding a flat rear half of the lap is descent, I would say.....or would I?

Waiting for home

Check this video out, the last part is not suitable for young audiences, so watch with out your parents: http://ebaumsworld.com/2006/10/theassumptionsong.html

I'm planning on posting some pictures from this weekend tomorrow, until then...

Kook-ook a choo!!!!

Borat in movies next week! I'm not promoting the movie, I'm just promoting funny! I think it will be a direct travisty if this movie doesn't make you laugh.
















You wanna zip zop a boobity bop?
http://www.zippyvideos.com/9970099661032736/family_guy_bill_cosby/

Violated

Most people figure Huntsville to be a prison town...and that it is. That doesn't mean I have any affiliation with the inmates. While doing the study at UT Austin, I have heard many many stories of "The Probe". I was be-boping along just doing the hard rides they told me to do, Probe free.
And after the happy post from yesterday, I was violated. Thats all I'm saying about that.
The drive home from Austin is always fun, it goes by faster, I'm in no hurry and can eat whenever, and you see more jackasses on the way home.
The rain was pouring, and while catching a white pickup truck who was swerving all over the road. It first appeared to be a sleepy/or drunk driver. Then as I approached the vehicle I noticed that a shirtless mexican had his head out the window, WHILE driving! And I hypothisised that his winsheild wipers did not work. Hey, do what works!

Good morning.

Play this song every morning and it just seems to brighten your day.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsw_rbjMKgE&mode=related&search=

I like how the chinese version makes you laugh because it's like an old movie, without subtitles!

24 hour anyone?

For the past 40 hours, I've gotten about 3 hours of sleep. I only rode 50 miles in the solo divison, but got the fastest 1st and fastest overall lap. The intensity training is kicking in, or was it those little pills I found in that EPO container? Thanks Floyd.
By the way, thanks to little D for inspiring me! Even though you come up a little 'short' in life, I can still make something of something or something like that.
Working the timing was a thrill, it's amazing how I single handidly can make a team go faster just by writing whatever time I want. Noel, Harrison and Claire were my support for keeping me up, and while Claire never came through with her pizza promise, or her '15' minute break we still all enjoyed the company of my ipod, and next year the dance floor will be roped off. We encountered a few problems, that I dealt with direct, and all the people had to hear was one word to make themselves feel at ease: "Nathan Winkelmann". Then the cold came, and cold is my natural enemy, that and emu's, but the cold was bitter and harsh, just like Noah does to his compitition. I'm starting to think that the gypsies rolling all that hash out there was probably the reason for the bootleg copies of that golf movie that the little kids didn't want to watch, Caddyshack.
By the way, I'm recruiting riders for a team, or two for next years endurance races, if you have the following names keep your datebook free: Champ, Crazy Bain, Dr. Pain.

some testing

I went up to Austin for some LT and VO2 max testing, numbers weren't all that impressive, but I figured out I need to do some interval training. Either that or I need to hit the gym....but I never found tan lines and 12 inch pythons don't go over too well there.
Hopefully the rain will stay away for the 24 hour race, nothing's worse than doing, another, slogfest. I would love for some of the XC guys to show up, because endurance racing is a bit different....where interval training doesn't help all that much!

Here's my life lesson for today: When being waited on at a restaurant, don't say that your waitress should lose weight. Or better yet, you can say it, just not so she can here you! The service really goes downhill.

Museings

I fear I might have hit a low in my performance. This weekend was 'supposed' to be grandure, but it turned out to be nothing more than a failure....and yes I said it, "now my failure is complete!" But at least I was out of the house, seeing live people and not stuck on a computer game that gets me nowhere!
I seriously didn't like Copperas Cove, or any of the guys that made the race that hard...'cough cough' STEFAN...WENGER....WIKOFF. I hooked up with TJewel after the first lap, and ended up riding back to the truck in the feedzone.
So what all I've learned this week: When sick with allergies, or any other disease, cancer, or broken self, just relax and call off thinking you will have power in the race. That and don't write on TMBRA about how you think your gonna beat a Winkelmann in the next race.-wink

It's that time of the year

Jason portrays how 'starting over' doesn't work with me...play where the ball lands I say.

The weather is getting cooler. The days are getting shorter. The racing is going like the dodo. After deciding to do one last long ride, instead of the cross race, I figured when I got to my turnaround and only had 2 hours to get home, and it took 3 to get there, that I was in some trouble, since riding in the dark and frigid cold isn't really my idea of fun. I had to call Mom for a pickup. Today must've been the reaction my body had, to the lack of sleep and the constant work I put my body under. I don't know if it's allergies, or if I'm actually sick, but I feel like a spoiled bag of potatoes.
Oh, that picture was me at the batting cages....I suck at baseball...apparantly I'm supposed to keep my eye on the ball, but I didn't want to be all gay like that.

Sandan=pain

Well, it was a good weekend, hopefully I can keep some form and use it this weekend, for the 200 plus miles of racing that I'll be doing. I figured out, my new shoes must be a hair off, and so my muscles work differently. So after the road race, I had a strained shin bone muscle. Riding around hurt it before the MTB race, but once I started it wasn't even thought of.
Jason did a good job, breaking the front derailer and losing 5 minutes, but still finishing well.
He stayed home monday and taught karate, and made me do 5 million pushups, and I'm sore today from it still. I feel pretty crummy today, probably not enough rest, but I still need to figure out if I'm gonna just do a ride around here, or drive to Houston to cross it up in the mud.-with my semi slicks!

Guitar Hero is probably the funnest game to get your bud's together and play, and laugh at each other! It's like Dusty Dinkelmann has 10 fingers! Well, Shamrock finally quit, and I'm kinda glad b/c I hated seeing him get torn up every fight now. Tito Ortiz and The Iceman should be a good fight, but I'm hoping Jason gets in a local boxing show....FightNight, Nov. 2, so if he does it and you see him at the Huntsville race all tore up.....in the knuckles, you'll know.

ICKTER!

Friday nights Comedy club was a ball. Every single comedian wanted to do a bit on us. Just because my phone rang in the middle of his bit. Then some old guy wanted to 'be with' us or something, he was a fag...or as we call him nowadays, metrosexual. Josh Sneed was the main honch, and was quite funny. Making fun of white trash must be hard to do...don't get me wrong, I do it all the time, but not to an audience with white trash carnies in it!
Today's Age based State Road race was tough. The old College Station loop, 80 miles or so, done with fewer people than a normal P12 race. This meant that I was on the front more. I ended up bringing home the silver for the 23-29 group. Much props to Zach Fiocca, a strong ride, and a well deserved championship. I'm not really looking forward to racing the MTB race course without riding it first, but hey, what could go wrong? I might get lost but at least I ain't got no money!

Eureaka!!!!!

I solved the problem that people in cycling seem to crave. The spectator viewings. It is said that other than family and friends, there is no spectators. And I gotta kinda admit, that cycling isn't all that appealing to the public eye. BUT, I think I came up with a solution. While talking to Danielle, she said that the TOUR was boring to watch.....hmmm, what can we do to out do the tour? Well, I used my college degree for this one. What does our audience like? Well, take Baseball and Football....the sports aren't all that fun to watch....BUT they have something that draws people to the game. Americans like two things......Sex and beer. So we'll just sell them like that:


Of course these are rough drawings from my head, BUT you get the idea.....Team Smackers would love this idea I'm sure!















And who doesn't like cheering for their team? Why, I know I do! Go Woodlands!!! And the riders would surely appriciate all the jumping up and down that they recieve!












If I have to personally put on a race, in Huntsville, and show others how it's done, I might just do it! Frat guys would show for beer, sorority girls would follow....and the cheerleaders, well lets just pray I can think of a way to get them there!

HI, I'm Kenny Rogers and this is the funny blog trick.

Jackass number 2 was in theaters when The Muffin Man, Deisel and I went to go see it. It was either laughing or try not to puke. The stuff they do is so funny. Then if you parody it with a guy like Kenny Rogers, it just makes it more funny....notice how the tricks are performed. http://youtube.com/watch?v=VV6In1K8zKk

When we weren't making jokes up on our own, we used this little thing, called the internet to plug us into a social pipeline with one click of a button. A certain Kazachstan, however you spell it, is getting to have some serious funny material....and even a movie coming later. Yes I'm refering to Borat! http://youtube.com/watch?v=uFiSjiEb6Yg You know you got pizzaz when you make Conan speachless!

Then in the response to laughing at Jackass 2, we started to watch various videos of Jackass. Then the thought of no Don Vito in the movie led us to ponder to view him. Don Vito is one crazy fat man, and when he gets angry, you can't understand him....and I love when they translate for you....sometimes, if you pay attention, you can find that he's not even saying what they're typing. http://youtube.com/watch?v=PHKuN2gXWv0

So if you call me and get a 'weird' voicemail, you will at least get the joke now. Bikers are an unsavery bunch and I'd rather opt out.-wink

Friday

Todays ride was superb. 115 miles with no bonk, the last time I did this, I hit the wall HARD at mile 70. Headwind the whole way home though, not a well thought out plan.
Here in Austin, Nnamdi is showing Mark and I a time of our life. Mark and I already laughed so much it hurts. We got in the car, and laughed at a mini van parking in a compact car spot, it hit the truck next to him becuase there was NO way it was going to fit. Mark and I were laughing contagiously, making each other laugh more and more, while Nnamdi was trying to tell us something, but the fever spread to his car as he started laughing at us.
I'm going for the core training right now, and not so much 'on the bike time'.

Realignment

I've been trying to keep the back from going WHACK! Doing little things differently will hopefully help it to not hurt during hard races/rides.
And for all the people that think all I do is ride, I didn't even have a chance today. Yoga, work, and yes, even more work. It's amazing how little people know karate, and then they depend on Winkster to teach them.
So I'm planning on a 5 hour plus deathmarch tomorrow, Huntsville-CollegeStation and Back. Anyone interested?
Take a little recovery time, then head to see Nnamdi and Mark in Austin again. I need to ride Saturday so I'll be making last minute calls Friday night to meet with a groupo.

And just a personal note, get out and Cross it up, it's hard as hell, but the Houston Wed. Night cross races course is Saaaaaweeeeeeeeeet! -wink

I promised!

RHR CX. Maybe that stands for Royally Hott Race! I've never learned the 'proper' way to do this, but this is how Wankster X does it!













This kid was in Greenville, chasing that chicken. All I could think about was Mick in Rocky, "If you catch this chicken then you'll be like greased lightening." "NOW YOU GOT SPEED!"












This is from the cracks in the 'cotton patch' RR, some guy did this to his wheel, also notice the fork broken.

I'll try to get more photos later, it took 33 minutes exactly to get here!

mercy william, mercy

Lordy Lordy Mary! It's just been one of those weekends. I've had SO much fun, and it just goes to show you, that racing is about meeting with friends and getting out in different parts of the country. Austin is home of lots and lots of weirdos. And then you have Nnamdi. Nnamdi is one of the rare people from Huntsville that went to Huntsville School of Karate and graduated with a black belt by the age of 15. Which he goes on to fight at World calibar fights. THEN, not only does he get a 'second' degree, but also beefs up 55 pounds...and that's PURE muscle here.
So Jason, Nnamdi and I all get together in Austin to watch a Chuck Norris feature...the WCL< World Combat League. A full contact, intense fighting show. This was a real FUN night, lot's of fighting and some guys getting knocked the hell out!!! One guy in particular got knocked out so bad, that after 30 seconds on the ground, he got up, only to fall again. So, the trainer is summoned to help, but only to jump on the mat wrong, and break his leg. So not only does the guy who DID the knocking out get his glory taken away, the guy that NEEDS help doesn't get any, and the trainer is getting help first! haha, talk about irony. At midnight the fights ended, and we had to move our car, so it wouldn't get towed, but we somehow ended up going to the famed 6th street, unfortunatly just to walk around, as I forgot my wallet. We really didn't even get on 6th street, it was more like 6 and 1/2 street, and this Drunk as a Sailor on vacation girl came up and asked to walk with us.....we laughed and were able to accomodate her to some more bars. An hour of walking around and watching the scene is plenty for me. We headed home, so I could sleep before Saturday's cross race.
While Nnamdi was in the shower, Jason and I killed a whole bucket of cookies. Then I heard some neighbors and went to meet them. We spent the next 2 hours in the room next door, watching fights and talking. At 3 and heif hours in the morning, I called it a night....er morning and hit the hay.
The next day's cross race, was very hard, it was held at the time I normally took a nap, and since I was sleep deprived already, I was really tired. I think my 7-D last night was gonna cause much pain. Will Black and Cornfed were preped and ready as always, and I hung on to a very hot and hard 3rd place. Thanks to Dave Boyd for the ride...yet again.
Jason did his first cross race, and he too got 3rd.
That night we hit DADDY'S GRILLE, a whole slew of us, the folks(mom AND dad), Jason, Nnamdi, Doctor Dave, and myself. Daddy even remembered us!!! We engulfed the food, and then listened to Dave tell storys about 7 day adventure races. Nnamdi was floored, and made a great comparison....."He has more story's about 7 days than most people have about there whole life!"
The XC race, I lined up in the back, and was just hoping my legs would have some normal power. Once we started racing, I didn't find it too hard, but I just couldn't go any harder...the power wasn't there. So After doing 2 hours, almost getting DQ'd, and having no lube on my chain, I finished in 11th.....worst XC race in Texas EVER!
It wasn't all bad though, I got to see everyone again, and I know what I missed in training...so next time won't be so hellatious!
But I think I'm heading up to Austin again this weekend, to have a little bit MORE FUN!....and I know, I'm gonna post pic's, just give me some time to download them!

Just a normal couple of days.

Tuesday...yoga...ride...sleep...work...then hang out with friends. Andy didn't want to come play FIFA on the PS2, but we had 6 guys all playing on the same team. But playing on a 12" tv screen is kind of difficult, the colors get mixed up, and while I yell at Cesar for not passing, Chris would start laughing at him because he didn't pass. It was a great night that ended rather late....or early. Wednesday is always difficult for me, because I have to 'wait' to ride. It's all worth it though, the drive down to Houston at 5 o'clock is a haul. I would estimate, 100% of the Houston population was driving to the exact point I was. I showed up with just enough time to, put on clothes, air up the tires, pay entry fee, and preride just one lap. I've raced enough races to determine that I shouldn't go out balls to the walls if I haven't had a good warm up. So I decided to ride into the race, with a bit slower start, and the laps being AWESOME, and long, I could warm up easy in 10 minutes or so. BikeLane had 5 guys out and the return of Dave Boyd is prominate. It's really good to see a bunch of nice guys after a long summer. It just goes to show, that mountian biking(and some roadies) IS the reason to show up to some races.

Sorry for the lack of pictures, I'll try to upload some and post them for the last couple of blogs.-wink

Texas Road Racing

So it was a plan of mine, two or three years ago, to start road racing to help bennifit my mountain biking. I always said, and continue to say I'm a mountain biker. I just so happen to be able to do pretty well at the road as well. Although, for some reason I've never really 'liked' it, and I always determine reasons why, but either it's too boring, or too gay.

I don't mean to offend anyone in anyway, but in Texas, we have tons of fast guys, some real strong guys. The only problem is, every one of those guys can win the race. Therefore, they WANT to win the race, ergo the problem ensues. When your able to win a road race, there is no reason to sit at the front and pull back the break that WILL win the race. And you get a few guys that try hard to work, and others sitting in to 'win'.

I'll always try as hard as I can, because in the back of my mind, it's all a game...training if you will. And if I happen to do well, which I WANT to do, then I just beat guys at their own game....very few will come play with me in the dirt.

This past weekend, the cotton patch in Greenville, was well, tough. The begining, I felt great...the roads were rather dangerous with 2 foot cracks wanting to eat wheels. I did lot's of work, and probably shouldn't have since I slept 2 hours the night before. By the time we got to the end 20 miles, with the ONE feed zone, it was attrition, the last bit was ALL head winds. It was a super tough 85 mile race, and ended up 6th....should've been 7th, but some guy thinks winning by holding on to a motorcycle is ligit.

The next day was a crit is Denton, I was already signed up but woke up to HEAVY rains and scary thunderstorms. I was mentally OUT of this race. I would line, up just to say I did, but wasn't looking for more. It just so happens, that the 'winner' of the RR, who was DQ'd, was in line right ahead of me. And I hear him talking to a teammate, talking sh!t about me....then about my mom. Any red blooded Texan whose met my mom knows how good a person she is. So when you talk about her like that, it's your life at risk. Of course I asked them if they had anything personal against 'Nathan', as they called me(only real folks call me Wink). "OH, no, we know him"....what a wussy way to back out. This fired me up, and I decided to do something in the race.

The race was a 3 by 1 rectangle. A slight hill, and my legs felt GREAT. I hardly saw my HR over 170. I was in a break that I thought would stick until Seagrave and mates pulled it back. The problem though was when we got caught, the 'real' attacks went, and I knew this, and wanted to go....the problem was the 3's integrated in our feild....one gets in the way and you have to wait until after the next two turns that were taking people down left and right. Then it was too late. So as not only ONE break gets away, a second grows, and the work I do on the front is to bring it back, but the Texas racing applys and all the winners behind me find themselves losing yet ANOTHER race. I ended up 9th....in a crit....in the rain. Is road racing supposed to be this easy? HA!

My philosophy...or WAF(Winks Awesome Filosofy)....winning is all that matters, you better bust your balls to do so.

Some funny things to show I still got it.

Random, creative Wink.













You have to check out this video of a fat kid....well, watch how the mother reacts!:http://ebaumsworld.com/2006/09/fatty-fall-out-of-ride.html

I guess this shows that I'm not cut out for being an operator:http://ebaumsworld.com/2006/08/911-call.html

WIN!

Win's spawn other win's. After the hard race Sunday, I had some real good naps and rest days. Tuesday I woke up for Yoga, tired and groggy, I would try and ride after I yoga'd it up. The only reason I get up so early is to yoga, normally I'd be sleeping in. But this day was different, I was trying a new radio station, and if you don't know, I really like music, like lyrics and knowing the name of the song. Well it just so happens the radio station gave me this lyric: "How can a person like you bring me joy. Under the pale moon, Where I see a lot of stars". The guy said it, and it took me a minute to put into context to sing it, but I thought to myself, I KNOW THIS! The guy on the radio that called in was like, Uh, I don't know, what a retard, I was yelling the answer to him. Well, it just so happened that the DJ gave me a number and I called in.....they picked up, I won a free CD, and got entered in a grand prize drawing! It made my day, I was happy to have gotten something for free...by winning it.
The ride on Tuesday was lull at best, the legs were still tired, even after all the rest, and only got in 2 hours. It seems as though my heart is begining to get like Sager's, riding at 140 beats going 22-25 mph. But you still feel the legs.
Wednesday was going to be my first cross race of the year. I headed down to Houston for a weekely cross series, more of a fun race in my perspective. The course was pretty rad, really made a choice between a hardtail or CX bike difficult. Some sections were tough on the CX bike, while some were wide open flats....CX advantage. Young gun Bennet Brown got the whole shot, but was riding a XC rig, I bridged up to him on lap 3 and eventually got past him. Taking my 'win' on Tuesday a bit further to spawn another W.

So how many people can tell me the name of that tune above???--no googleing.

Green party

Old San Jose got the best of me today....let me re-phrase that, they got the best of the whole P12 field today, sweeping 7 or 8 of the top 10. I myself went on to try to fight the odds and rode with every break that went. The good thing is, 100% of my team was there the whole time, supporting me, and riding "together"-as if we were one. I seemed to have had difficulty the past week with stomach problems, and eating only one honeystinger bar in an 86 mile race probably didn't help much either. I just couldn't see myself outriding 10 guys from the same team, playing great tactics non the less. I was SURE that the first break was sticking, an early attack, two San hosers, two Velossimmissmmmooo's, and two brains and a spine's. (and me). Half way through the race, Robbinette told me Willis wasn't feeling too hot, and he looked GONE! Adam 'Ozzy Osbourne' G.-was also giving lots of energy, while his new cat 2 teammate and a guy feared in the 3's, Tha Professor Eric Benz wasn't pulling too much for the groups taste. The BS guys were really helping me drive this break, Sol the most aggressive rider on the day, and his teammate Nathan helped get the break up to 2:20...or thats what we heard. A couple of miles later, some group, I don't know if it was the peleton or a break overtook us and I had to dig to make ANOTHER break stick. This break was SURE to go to the end, Sol, Robbinette and myself from the first break made it again, with a THSJ guy, Minturn and Annuutttteeeee. Riding hard got Anut dropped and we were going up the last climb's home, 10 miles or so, when Carlos Vargas(THSJ) and Scotty Vegeberg bridged up, we also heard the pack was over a minute back. Little did I know, that would be the beggining of the end, I was fine at that point with not winning b/c Vargas is pretty strong, esspecially when your uber tired. But after Robbie and Vargas went, and the chase was begining to look grime, a whole heard of San Jose guys bridged up out of nowhere, each one looked to be fresh and ready to attack. While I got stuck with guys that wanted me to pull as much as them....yes I know, even AFTER all the miles I spent off the front. But hey, I wouldn't have Texas racing any other way. Winding up for the sprint, all I had to do was beat ONE guy I was with to get 10th....that is until a flying Zach Fioca took 9th...and a black truck impeeded a would be sprint to the end. By the way, who lets a pack of 5 guys draft off of you in the last mile anyway??? I ended up 12th....a secure 4th...to a possible 6th....a hopefull 10th to a hard 12th.

After a hard ride like that, I found that my lower back gets "stuck" in the hunched over position. Causing various amounts of pain trying to do the simplest of things, such as walking, bending over to pick up things, or riding a shopping kart with one wheel wobbling down a Wal-Mart isle.

NICE....REAL NICE!

So on the way to his Championship run, Jason said he had some "mishaps", and it just so happens that Freeze was there to capture the moment. NICE!!!















I was just planning on doing some training this weekend...but it looks like there is a race close by...Good ol' Chappel Hill Road Race. I think I might try to make an appearance on Sunday, Shake and Bake!

If anyone is ever in H-ville, PLEASE call me up so I can ride with someone! I started Yoga to be around people...I've already increased my lung capacity 42%, and my flexibility 87%! Not only that but the new karate school opens tonight....and I have a personal invitation to go work out. I think that's a must, seeing that Jason isn't here to break my nose before a race.

Jason show's what Winkelmann's are made of. A certain expression was said like this, "Mexicans eat chips and quesso...Winkelmann's eat bread and BBQ sause!"
It's true, it goes with EVERYTHING. I highly recomend it.











The costume crit was done by these two critters. Somehow, Spider-Man is doing the 'racing' part, WITH that cover over his mouth! -notice the cycling shorts under the suit....I'm not CRAZY!

Jason's costume is SpongeBOB...for the layperson, it's a kid show, and I'm telling you from 5 hours of work, that it is AWESOME!












How do you sprint on pedals like this? Apparently the pedal can't handle the 2500 watts I throw down during my warm up....that number above was pulled out of the air and have no corrilation to my real power.

Camp Eagle and what not....

Didn't go quite as well as the 'plan'...thats one reason why I never make plans, you have no expectations that way and don't get let down when something doesn't go your way. Friday was more or less, a travel day, no preride, no ride, no nothing. No biggy, I'd just get up and do the preride in the morning.

RaceDay1. Super D, the course was pretty cool, short, but better than Sonoma! Started off with a real open jeep road that had a few pedaling spots...then "BOMB" down this huge hill, hit some single track and then pedal it home. Now when I say BOMB down the hill, I say this with no sarcasim, the descent was rocky, and uber fast, easily hitting 30 mph...and I wouldn't be surprised if we hit 40.
So on the start line, they call us up...and we're facing this jeep road...ON the bike. No lemans style start, or a run to the bike. The start was crazy and I found myself in the position that I was in, in many of the NORBA XC races....2nd from last. By the time I got around everyone, the race was over. I did have a pretty cool excuse though, my eggbeater pedal broke at the top, giving me only half the clip in surface...ergo when I unclipped inadvertatly I had major problems getting back on track...or sprinting out of the pedal itself. A 2nd place finish.
Jason had a bad ass race, finishing 1st, in his 1st ever super D. And he wonders why I call him CHAMP!

RaceDay1.2. Costume Crit. Spider man returned. Jason was there again, and being the fun guy he is, he took my advice and while at the Dollar Store for some last minute costume ideas, I thought....DUDE, be SpongeBob Square Pants!!!! And so it was concieved in my mind what the costume would look like....and the uneventful Friday night was spent making a costume with tons of sponges...Using my creative side of me is time consuming, as it has to look like what my mind see's, and it actually turned out pretty sweet if I don't say so myself( 5 hours later ). I ended up getting the fastest time, after a hard breathing effort trying to catch 'banana man'. Jason's costume hit it with the kiddo's and won the costume part.....SWEET!!!! Jason...thats 2 1sts!

RaceDay2. XC. The course again was pretty rad, some technical sections, long climbs, and a river bed section that was as bumpy as a fat woman eating curds and drinking marmalade.
The start was good, hit the climb and was caught out by a couple of guys that didn't want to go the pace of Fawley. By the bottom of the first downhill he had 30 seconds, and the chase began. I easily kept the gap to 30, but after the first creek crossing my left grip started 'motoing' on me. Brap turned into CRAP. Every downhill was slowed because of a non-stable steering device, and I soon found that climbing was hindered too. Everytime I turned the grip to go back to it's original spot, I would hit the shifter....concordinly I would shift OUT of my big ring, slowing momentum, which being a 'heavyweight' doesn't work out very good. Freddy Moore was rocking and caught me and had a go or two at it, before I finally got the best of him. Another 2nd place. I'm fixing the problems, and next time I think I'll try and avoid anymore....I seem to race better that way. -wink

Camp Eagle or bust.

We leave today to get to the race, I have to preride in the afternoon...I much rather like riding in the morning, when I have tons of energy to do stuff. Riding in the afternoon for me is "forcing" myself to ride. Oh, but I'm sure I can coax myself to do it just this one time, I mean Jason will be riding with me and he motivates me to just go do stuff and have fun.
Hopefully the Super D will go my way, with a good showing in the XC race....after the mishap I did at the Wed. Night Crit, I will be mentally prepared to hurt people! I know the legs are there.

I've been working on a 'dirty' little secret, and hopefully will get to reveal it later. Oh and if you get to watch a new release...The Benchwarmers is a funny flick! C y'all a the race-wink